


No idea what's coming next

by Sunlocke



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Draconids have a history of violence towards Sootopolitans, F/F, First meeting (so of course it's not that mushy), Religious ideas (I guess), What is romantic, Zinnia believes in reincarnation, Zinnia is complicated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9614039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunlocke/pseuds/Sunlocke
Summary: After everything, a Sootopolitan really wants to get to know her. This really is something new, but this time, Zinnia isn't afraid of new.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not romantic at all, so I spared you all the play by play. I hope it still reads well. Enjoy.

This time, she saw her first in Lilycove, and knew her immediately. She was different off camera, but she looked just like her father- or her uncle, whatever it was this time around, with the same downturned nose and round lips, and that shirt was probably a hand-me-down too. Red and pink and yellow plastic beads clinked around her shoulders as she turned, and her skin burned glowing in the sunset. It was too late to hide, but Zinnia already knew that. Not that she would hide, anyway.

She knew her too, and that was a surprise. Maybe they’d met before, but she didn’t think so. No, she’d remember someone with a presence like this. The idol stepped in, and she was taller than the screen made her, and confident, forget locked knees and drawn in shoulders. “You’re Zinnia, right?”

She nodded, and the girl walked right by, but she waved a hand. “Come with me, come with me.” Zinnia turned with her full body to follow the idol with her gaze as she walked, and she caught up before even asking where they were going. 

“I’m going to buy you a coffee. I’ve heard a lot about you – I mean, of course, you’re the Lorekeeper! – but I’d rather not judge you based on all that. You look super nice, and I wanna get to know you.”

Didn’t she know? Wallace told her everything. Didn’t he? Maybe that had been someone else. But all it meant was this time, Zinnia had no idea what was going to happen.

She let Lisia lead her, and the girl recommended something iced with a pile of whipped cream on top, and she gets the same thing and pays for them both. They sit down inside and Lisia pulls her sunglasses down over her eyes to cover herself from the prying stares. Zinnia asks what she wants to know, and Lisia says forget about Draconid or Sootopolitan, let’s talk like people, and I love your hair, by the way.

Of course, she has to be fucking perfect, not that Zinnia's complaining. She can fill every lull in the conversation, shows Zinnia a hundred pictures of that gorgeous Altaria and baby talks Aster, cuddling her and saying how cute she is and what a precious little thing even though she knows the Whismur can’t hear anything. She laughs at Zinnia’s rough sarcasm and self-depreciating humor, so hard she snorts and sets them both off harder. She apologizes for Uncle Wall being so stubborn, and assures that he’s a really great guy, asks where Zinnia had gotten her socks, and offers her a Contest Pass. Wow, those dragons could go for tough or cool contests, she insists, or any of them, and Zinnia takes it so Lisia grins like the sun at dawn.

It’s dark by the time the conversation slows, and Zinnia clutches the plastic cup with dregs of coffee and melted ice. She doesn’t want to leave. It’s not like there’s anything better to do. Not yet, at least, Groudon hasn’t emerged yet, even though she knows it will, but not now. She can’t take her eyes away from her. It must be what makes an idol, or maybe it was one of the universe’s strange workings. But Lisia stands up.

“Oh jeez!” she says as Zinnia watches her. “I was going to go to the comet show tonight, but I only got one ticket to the observatory in Mossdeep. But, you know, it doesn’t cost anything to look at the sky.”

She leaves the ticket to the barista and holds out one hand, and Zinnia takes it standing up. Aster cries out from under the table. Lisia leads her out, to the beach where the gentle waves wash over their feet. The sand is still hot from the daytime sun when they lie on their backs, looking up. The sky stretches out forever. Lisia asks what she thinks is out there, and Zinnia can only shake her head, because she doesn’t know, and for once it’s less important than the here and now. The Sootopolitan points out her favorite individual stars that Uncle Wall has told her about, and the Draconid draws pictures with her hands of constellations she’s never heard of before.

She’s not Aster. Zinnia knows that. She’s nothing like Aster. She wonders how many times she’s lived this moment before. Different incarnations, maybe- maybe different worlds entirely. How many times has she spilled this girl’s blood over this very beach? Or how many times has she failed to save her? Maybe this time, it’s something entirely new. Now Lisia’s looking at her and smiling, and none of that matters. Everything that is going to happen will happen in due time. Now, this is what’s happening.

Right now, this is what’s real.


End file.
